The Return of the Silence
by Horsesletmefly
Summary: The Doctor and River Song are back for a new adventure when the TARDIS drops them in an American classroom. After making a few discoveries, they are left on a chase for someone they haven't seen in ages. Who, you may ask? Well I suppose you'll just have to read and find out! *Note This is my first FanFic, so please understand that it won't be perfect! Thank you so much for reading!
1. Prologue

"Maria Smith?" the teacher asked in an annoyed voice. After all, what was use in asking? The girl was never here. She took a look around, just to verify her thoughts. To her immediate surprise and displeasure, in the furthest seat in the back and to the right sat a tall, thin girl with long, curly ginger hair and sharp blue eyes. She was paying no attention to anything outside of her immediate line of vision, which was trained on something small she was fumbling with under the desk.

"Well, well, well. Our British mystery girl has decided to show her face!" The teacher proclaimed in a snarky way. The girl seemed to be making use of her selective hearing. The teacher strode over and snatched the object of the girl's interest, expecting a cell phone, or maybe an iPod. Instead, the object in her hands was a small, black cube, nothing more. A simple child's toy or house decoration.

"I very highly suggest you hand that back to me." The girl said, speaking for the first time. She had a thick, northern British accent which stood out here among all the Americans. Besides that, the girl also had a nasty, sick tone to her voice.

"Why would I do that? It's so very obviously distracting you from your schoolwork and if you care about it _so_ much, it could be worth something. I'll just call your parents. See what they have to say about it." The teacher rolled the cube between her fingers. The girl scoffed.

"Good luck with that." She rolled her eyes. She only had to spend a few more minutes here. Enough to make sure people saw her. Knew she was or had been here. And now the second, more difficult part of the plan was complete. The girl testily checked her hands for a blinking red light or tally marks. She hadn't seen any sign of them here. What they were, she was unsure of. She just knew that they came and the moment you look away, you forgot them. The only way to keep track of them had been to mark down on your skin, with tally marks, when you'd seen them. That was the more primitive way. With that way, you only knew that something important had happened and you had forgotten it. But the girl only used that technique when the more advanced technique failed her, which it did, occasionally. The advanced technique allowed you to leave yourself a voice message, via a receptor in your hand, after which you looked away, you could listen to. The girl had been provided a receptor a long while ago and was taught how to use it by people she had blocked out of her memories. The people who commanded these creatures. They called the creatures The Silence.

The Silence were getting closer, and after they tore through this school, killed most everyone, and started the chase after the girl to her new location, The Doctor would certainly be close behind. Closer than before. Closer then ever. Close enough to interact with for the first time in a long time. The girl shook her head and cleared it of these thoughts. If the plan would go through correctly, she wouldn't have to worry about that. Her DNA was on the cube, and the teacher had touched the cube, transferring the DNA from the cube to her skin. The Silence would keep her, would torture her for information, and, in the end, kill her most violently. And the Doctor would notice. He was smart enough. 'Why her?' He would wonder. Inevitably he would make a full search, a large enough and detailed enough search, even going through her drawers -in which the teacher now placed the cube- to look for an answer. And he would find it. The cube would open, just as it was programmed to, at the slightest of the Doctor's touch. Inside of it would be the paper. The only thing in the whole plan that could be untrusted the slightest. If everything worked correctly, the paper would display the correct things and lead the Doctor to her. And if not, she supposed there were other ways.

The girl now trained her eyes on the clock. 40 Seconds. The girl really was very sick. In fact, she was so sick that in 37 seconds, it would kill her. She was dreading this death a bit more -she had taken a liking to this regeneration, changing her appearances wasn't on the top of the list- but if anything, she hoped this one was less messy. She'd had to hook up with every gross, sick guy in the school to get a case of Mono this bad. She was also 90% sure she'd gotten every STD in the book in the process. At least all of those would be gone when she had her new body. 25 seconds. She was running out of ways to get killed. The last few, she'd had to resort to ticking someone off so much they had to kill her. Or suicide. She'd done that once and was never doing it again. If the plan worked, she wouldn't have to die to regenerate again, because it wouldn't be as important to change her looks when she was with the Doctor. She'd only be regenerating so much lately to stay in disguise. She tapped her pencil as the teacher continued lecturing her. 19 seconds. She wondered what her new regeneration would look like. She hoped for black hair. 13 seconds. She thought about names for a moment before deciding it was the time to use her correct and proper name, a name she hadn't heard said for many many years. After all, if she wanted to make this as easy as possible for the Doctor, she needed to use the name he knew so very well. The one chosen for her regenerations ago. She wasn't sure if he'd be a fan of how she'd shortened it, but there was no way she was walking around as Alexandra Victoria Song. Alex would do just fine. 5 seconds. She stood and turned to the class.

"In a moment, something very, very bad is going to happen because I'm here, so I'm going to leave and hope they spare some of you. The real name is Alex. If any of you are left when a madman in a big blue police box and a women arrive, do me a favor and tell them that their daughter misses them." One Second. She ran.


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

"I just don't know what's wrong with her!" The Doctor exclaimed frustratedly as the TARDIS lurched to a stop. The time machine had been acting stupid for the past few weeks, taking them to what seemed like all the wrong places. But _technically_, she hadn't been wrong yet. The Doctor just didn't like being at the mercy of a time machine forever disguised as a blue police box due to a faulty Chameleon Circuit. He was a man who liked to be in charge. He tripped and slid with a large jolt, slamming into the railing that encircled the main control panel.

"Doctor. I've been telling you, you're flying her wrong! If you'd just let me..." River Song stepped over the Doctor from where he was laying on the ground and reached for the controls. Suddenly, the Doctor rose to his feet, grabbed River around the waist, spun her around behind him, set her down and turned to face her where she was, pressed against the rail, his precious TARDIS controls protected behind him.

"And I've told _you_ a bajillion-eleventy-hundred and two times, but I'll tell you just once more, NO!" He declared. River sighed annoyingly and turned to walk outside of the railing around the TARDIS.

"Well, she's obviously taken us to another place she feels is important, and she hasn't been wrong yet. Shall we see where?" She said, gliding to the doors and swinging them open. The woman gasped and violently slammed them shut. She turned with her back pressed against the door, a sullen look of horror swallowing her features. The Doctor was fiddling with something on the panels and without looking up began to ramble on about something that had to do with the TARDIS. After a moment, he noticed River had yet to provide a smart aleck comeback to his rambling and looked up at her.

"River..." he began slowly, dragging out the syllables in her name. "What was out there?" He asked. Wordlessly, River took one step forward and then ran up to the control panels, never turning to face the door, never saying a word. But the Doctor knew her well enough. She was never much phased by anything, so whatever was out there really had to be bad to bother her that much. Still keeping an eye on her, he silently progressed towards the the doors. When he reached them, he took one last look at River, still turned away from the doors, and pushed them open. He looked for a moment upon the bodies that lay still in the classroom. Presumably dead. There was one teacher who seemed to be the only one killed with any violence and at least eighteen teenagers. They all lay still. The Doctor turned back to River, who had finally turned towards him. The look in her eyes was one of deep sadness and fear. The Doctor turned and stepped out of the TARDIS taking a deep breath and running his hands through his sandy hair. He looked back at River, and she finally started towards him, very reluctantly.

When she reached him, they looked at each other, the same fear reflecting between their eyes. Finally, he spoke.

"She's a Time Lord. She would have regenerated. But this is still no good. No good at all." The doors of the TARDIS slammed shut behind them and the tell-tale sound of the bolts locking echoed through The Doctor's head.

* * *

Blonde. She was _blonde. _ Alex cringed, staring at her reflection. The pale, fair-looking ginger she'd been staring at for the past few weeks was gone. In her place stood a shorter, (5'4'', Alex presumed), prettier, blonde girl with the same, unchanging blue eyes that were bright, icy, and pale at the same time. Her skin was clear and healthy looking, free of the freckles that had plagued her in her last regeneration. For that, she was grateful, but this was still strange. Blonde. In the past year or so, she'd regenerated no fewer than six times, and, out of those, she'd never once been blonde. She'd been brunette, auburn, ginger, and once dyed her hair black before because she wouldn't die fast enough. But never blonde. Oh well, there was a first time for everything.

Alex sighed before reaching into her pocket and retrieving her piece of the two-way paper. She fingered the paper hesitantly. She'd briefly considered using physic paper, but was afraid that when the time came, her emotions would fail her. The two-way paper was much, much safer. Carefully, she copied down the address on the mailbox in front of her and watched her loopy handwriting sink into the paper, leaving only a shadow of what she'd written. Back at the school, at this very moment, the address would be etching itself into into the other sheet. Alex hoped that the Doctor would understand. There were other things she wished he would figure out, too, but she wouldn't dare get her hopes up.

She sighed, striding forward to the house. It was, she was fairly certain, a women and children's shelter. She much preferred other set-ups, but this would have to do under the circumstances. Inside of the house, it was warm and crowded. She gazed around for a moment before locating the reception desk and approaching it. Laying on the surface, within her reach, was a sign-in sheet. Alex picked up a pen with her right hand and began to write her name in the first space. What came out was an ugly scrawl. She swapped hands. Apparently, this regeneration was left-handed. She erased the previous writing and filled her name in on top of it. The receptionist looked at the sheet, making no attempt to be inconspicuous, and finally looked up, smiling at the girl.

"Alexandra Song. What a beautiful name!" The receptionist exclaimed in a voice that was a little too friendly for Alex's taste. Alex nodded her thanks, trying her best not to speak-as far as she knew, they were still in America. No need to draw attention to herself. "What do you need, dear?" The woman asked. _So much for that plan._

"I need a place to wait for a little while, until some people I'm waiting for get here." Alex said, trying her best to hide her thick accent. _Not too shabby, _she reflected. The receptionist nodded.

"Is there anyone in particular I need to be searching for, dear?" Again with the word _dear_, Alex thought, resisting another cringe. She shook it off and began to formulate a way to tell the receptionist who to look for, because even Alex was unsure if the Doctor and River had regenerated since the last time she had seen him. Finally, after a long pause, she decided what to say.

"A man and a woman who look as if they are on a very important mission. I'm not quite sure if they look the same- you know, haircuts, tattoos, piercings, the likes- and I know for absolute certain that they would not recognize me by face, but what they will recognize is my name. So, if they ask, show them the sheet. They go by the Doctor and River Song and will probably be carrying on a conversation that will sound incredibly stupid and juvenile. But if _anyone_ shows up with the names Doctor and River Song, it is absolutely vital that I see them. For your life and for mine."

Alex smiled, took out the paper and, using the same pen she had signed in with, scrawled something on it. It, too, sunk into the paper and disappeared from sight. She replaced the pen, spun on one toe and found a place to sit, leaving the receptionist no room to respond.

* * *

The Doctor tread carefully around the room, scanning every and anything with a small, round, metal stick with a green light at the end of it, his Sonic Screwdriver. He was perplexed. There was nothing unusual feeding from the room. He glanced over at River, who was searching around by the desk, kneeling on the ground.

"Doctor, I am just not finding anything. I don't understand. Why was it them? I am seeing nothing! Nothing at all." She exclaimed furiously. She threw open the to drawer and groaned. It was cluttered, full of confiscated cell phones, music players and other teenager things. She rocked back onto the heels of her hands and threw her head back. The Doctor watched her curiously before sighing and pocketing his screwdriver.

"You come over here, look for life. I'll search the desk." He said, being unusually understanding. River didn't argue. They swapped places. River walked among the bodies, all of which lay still. She thought the attempts futile, but continued checking for life signs, obeying the Doctor's orders. Sometimes, it was always best to follow the Doctor's orders. Sometimes it saved lives. River let out a huge sigh. There simply had to be a point for being here- The TARDIS knew what it was doing. It was just up to them to find the reason. River glanced at the TARDIS with an annoyed look. It was refusing to unlock and let them in- nothing they had tried had amounted to anything. As she pondered possibilities, something in her peripheral vision flickered. Slowly, she turned towards the movement.

"Hello?" She asked softly, "Anyone here? I don't bite, I promise. We just want to help. Hello?" She continued, approaching the noise. A tall, blonde boy lay crumpled up in the corner. From far off, he appeared just like the others did -dead- but if you looked carefully enough, you could just slightly see his chest rise and fall with his breath. River didn't know how to feel, what to think. She was, in some part of her, relieved, but there was another side, a stronger side that told her there was the slightest of chance that this person could deliver her news she didn't want to hear. She sat for a moment and watched the kid. After a few seconds, his eyelids fluttered open and as soon as his eyes locked on hers, he resumed playing dead. River stood and walked to him.

"Playing dead at the moment _so _isn't cool." She confronted, propping a hand on her hip purposefully. The boy finally opened his eyes fully and observed her before propping himself up. River waited to see if he would speak. After a tense minute, she decided that just because he had given up his acting attempt didn't mean he was going to cooperate. She sighed frustratedly for what seemed like the millionth time and began to talk.

"Okay. You are going to tell me three things. One, who are you? Two, what happened here? And, three," She trailed off, turning to look at the Doctor who was pawing through the drawer still, seeming to hear nothing she'd said. "Well, three... I suppose we'll get there later." River finally finished. The boy dared to watch her for moments more before finally speaking.

"My name is none of your business, but if you want something to call me, J works." He started. River rolled her eyes. _Teenagers. _"And, as for what happened, I have not a clue. If I hadn't woken up on the floor and seen all my friends and classmates dead, I wouldn't have guessed anything important occurred. But I'm smart and know how to use inference skills, and based on what I see around me, the fact that you and that man are here in a blue police box, and what_ she _said before she ran, I can infer that something dramatic and important happened."

River stared at him curiously. She decided to ignore his smart, rude tone.

"First of all, who is this_ she _you speak of? And what exactly did she say? And why don't you remember?" River asked. This kid was a lot more interesting than he looked.

"_She_ is this girl who's been here for about two months. She went by Maria Smith until today- or, what I am guessing was earlier today? I don't know exactly how much information or time I'm missing -But she stood up and talked about how something bad was going to happen because of her and that if a, and I quote, 'madman in a big blue box and a woman' show up, that I was supposed to tell them something. I missed the last part. The last thing I remember was that she ran -really fast for a girl,- and she like burst into flames? It was trippy. But yeah, that's all I remember," The boy said. River stared at him, again, before finding the right words.

"She went by Maria Smith until today? What is that supposed to mean?" She asked carefully.

"Oh yeah, before the madman-blue-box conversation, she said her real name was Alex." The boy stated in a nonchalant way. He stared down at his fingers before bending over to retie his shoes. River's eyes widened.

"Oh Doctor!" She sang excitedly, turning to look at the man. The Doctor sat on the floor, scanning a sheet of paper with his screwdriver, a confused look spread across his face. River watched his expression turn from confused into frustrated within the next second. It didn't seem as if he had heard her call for him. Just as she began to call for him again, she was cut off.

"RIVER!" The Doctor yelled. River could hear the frustration in his voice. She turned to look at the blonde kid, gave him a move-and-I-kill-you look, and strode over to the Doctor.

"Yes, Sweetie?" She said, staring down at the piece of paper in his hand. All at once, she knew exactly why he was frustrated and confused. "No way." She muttered, snatching the sheet from him and examining it in the most particular way. The Doctor popped back up onto his feet.

"Yes way, now give that back!" He plucked the slip from her fingers and began scanning it again. River crossed her arms and stared at the Doctor, waiting for him to pay her full attention. After a few minutes, it was clear she was going to have to make him listen to her.

"I know you're busy and all, you know, just sonicing a slip of two-way paper, but I thought maybe you'd like to know that I found a survivor. And not only that, but a survivor who knows about _her."_ River said in an arrogant tone. All of the sudden, the Doctor had dropped the paper and was standing millimeters in front of River staring behind her at the boy, who gave a slight wave. The Doctor's gaze switched between the boy and River for a moment before he focused back in.

"Well fabulous! Someone gets to live! Now, tell me," He said, folding his hands together, "What does _he_ know about _her_?"

River sighed, yet again. She was about tired of all this sighing, but _so _many things were worthy of a sigh here.

"Seems to me as if she knew we were coming, and I'll bet you my life she knew exactly what would happen after she departed, and made sure that there was a way to get to her. Which would explain that." River said, pointing at the slip of paper. The Doctor gaped at her for a moment before retrieving the paper.

"It seems as if you are correct." The Doctor said. "Our daughter is clever. Very, very clever."

"That's it!" The blonde kid proclaimed. "She said that, if you guys were to show up, to tell you that your daughter missed you." The Doctor and River stared at each other for a moment before bursting into large grins.

"Come along! We simply have somewhere we _must_ be!" The Doctor exclaimed, spinning on a toe before proceeding to the TARDIS doors, who happened to have unlocked themselves. River followed him. He slammed the doors shut and the blonde kid stared, dumbfounded at the TARDIS for a moment before the Doctor poked his head out again.

"Well come on! You're invited too!"

The kid bounded aboard.


	3. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

"So. Who are you?" The Doctor asked, flipping a few switches on the TARDIS and then sitting back against the railing, staring expectantly at the blonde kid. The kid glanced around for a moment before sighing and spitting out a reply.

"Tyler Adamsin. I go by Ty. I'm a Junior," he mumbled. The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"And how do you know this girl? You seem to know a lot about her," he said accusingly, crossing his arms. Ty looked up.

"I'd rather not discuss the circumstances under which I know her," the boy said gruffly. The Doctor eyed him.

"Oh really now?" He questioned. "Because I really think you'd rather tell me yourself than have me force it out of you."

"Oh calm down, Doctor!" River exclaimed, walking up behind the man and placing an arm around him. "I'm sure she was absolutely evil to him and it scarred him for life. I wouldn't want to talk about our daughter if she'd been evil either," River's tone reeked of sarcasm and fake comfort as she grinned up at her husband.

"Actually, all she did was give me mono. But the way you talk about her makes me glad that that is all she did to me," Ty mumbled. River's head swiveled around startlingly. The Doctor laughed.

"Wow, River. She's like you in more ways than I thought." He teased. River glared at him furiously. All of a sudden, the TARDIS slammed to a stop. The Doctor clasped his hands together and leaped down from the main control center.

"We're here!" He exclaimed excitedly, swinging the TARDIS doors open in a triumphant way. Outside, the air was crisp, the sky a dark, milky blue, dotted with the bright, twinkling stars. The Doctor grinned, looking around. After a moment, he pulled the slip of paper from his coat pocket and compared the address on it to the one on the mailbox. He smiled bigger. "Well, what do you know! She dropped us in the right place for once!" He strode forward, swinging the door open, River and Ty following him closely.

He stepped into the house, breathing in deeply, then scrunching up his nose.

"Note to self: don't breathe in deeply." He mumbled. River shook her head, chuckling to herself. Ty just raised an eyebrow at the man. The Doctor gazed around and then confidently sauntered forwards to the front receptionist desk.

"Hello! I'm the Doctor, and this is River and... um.." The Doctor snapped his fingers, turning at Ty.

"Ty." The boy said, annoyed.

"Right! Ky!" The Doctor exclaimed. Ty started to correct the Doctor, but River stopped him, giving the boy a firm look.

"So, yes, The Doctor, River, and Ky. I'm looking for someone, so could I see the sign-in sheet? Before you ask why or refuse, I do, indeed believe it necessary to see this sheet, because-" The Doctor's voice trailed off as he noticed the receptionist peering up from under her glasses, a sheet laying in front of him. "Right! Thank you!" He said, retrieving the sheet. He scanned the pages quickly, flipping through them until a name caught his attention. He leaned forward, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. He set the sheet back down on the desk, spinning it to face the receptionist, his finger on the name.

"Her. I need to find _her_," he said. The receptionist sighed and finally spoke.

"She left literally five minutes ago. Something about Starbucks and needing caffeine," she said. "Down two blocks, first building on the left."

* * *

Alex pushed open the doors to the store reluctantly. Walking back out into the twenty degree weather wasn't exactly number one on her list of things to do, but she couldn't risk being out for too long. Couldn't risk missing the Doctor. She stepped outside and took a sip of the concoction she'd ordered. She still wasn't sure what exactly it was, but it seemed to taste alright. She wandered down the street, shivering from the cold and observing the world around her. It was quiet- just the way she liked it. She looked down at her feet curiously. She still hadn't become entirely used to this new body. Her last regeneration has been relatively perfect in the small things, like the way it'd walked. This regeneration was slightly pigeon-toed, and now, for the first time, Alex realized just how much she'd appreciated the little things.

"It's almost three in the morning! And where did she go? _Starbucks._" A loud voice spat out several yards away from Alex. Immediately, she lifted her head and her pace doubled. It was still dark- she couldn't see the voice's source, but her instincts said she didn't need to see. As she drew closer, the voices became more prominent- a loud conversation being carried out between two people.

"Doctor, calm down. You're being nervous and frankly, it's annoying." A woman spoke, in a stressed voice. Frantically, Alex burst into a jog, not looking anywhere but on. The voices grew.

"Me! Nervous?! What a joke." The Doctor snapped back, lengthening his stride. "I'm just on top of things. The sooner we find her, the sooner we can learn what she knows about the school, the sooner we figure out what happened." He declared. Alex broke into a full run, ditching her coffee on the cement sidewalk. She ran blindly as the voices continued growing.

"What is that? Is someone running?" Ty asked, having been the only one to notice the footsteps coming closer and closer. The Doctor listened for a moment.

"Quite possibly." He said, wondering why exactly someone would be running at three in the morning in the middle of winter. What incentive could one have for that? At that exact moment, something with a lot of momentum slammed straight into him with enough force to knock him off of his feet.

"Crap," a voice groaned quietly, a string of incoherent swear words following. Alex scrambled to her feet nervously. "I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. The Doctor slowly sat himself up, rubbing his head.

"You'd best slow down before you kill someone," he snapped, pushing himself to his feet. In front of him stood Alex, dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, a thin jacket covering her arms, her blonde, curly hair in a ponytail on top of her head. She stood, gaping at him for a moment, her mind gathering her thoughts together. "Well, what are you staring at me for?" he asked, curious about the girl's expression. Alex stood in silence for the next few moments, trying to determine the right words. The Doctor ran his hand through his hair. "Look, if you aren't going to say anything, I needed to be at Starbucks ages ago."

"No, no you don't," Alex finally said, a grin breaking out on her face. She let out an extremely girly and uncharacteristic squeal before launching forward and wrapping him in a massive bear hug. He stood there, stiff, unsure of what was happening. After a moment, she looked up, her blue eyes big and round, like buttons. "Hi, Dad," she said, glowing. The Doctor stared for a moment, baffled, before he returned her hug, grinning back at River and Ty like an idiot.

"She was a ginger the last time I saw her," Ty said, confused.

"It's a Time Lord thing," River explained before rushing to join her family in an extremely cheesy group hug. After a moment, the Doctor broke the hug, grasping Alex's shoulders and stepping back to look at her.

"Look at you!" he exclaimed excitedly. "You grew up! How old are you now?" he asked.

"I'm sixteen," she replied, still smiling. The Doctor shook his head. Where had the time gone? The last time he'd seen her, she was barely six.

"Wow," he said. He sat for a moment, just admiring his daughter before River intervened, scooping Alex up into a massive hug. River just laughed and smiled and hugged. It'd been a while since she'd been so happy, it seemed. In the background, Ty coughed. Alex turned to look at him.

"Um... quick question, Mum. Why exactly is that kid here?" she asked tensely. She'd seen the kid before, and, actually, if you wanted to be truthful, it'd been a whole lot more than just _seeing_ him. But Alex wasn't about to bring _that_ situation up. That was a whole mountain that wasn't necessary to climb at the moment. River looked back at Ty.

"Oh, right, Ty. Well, apparently he was at the last place you were. And whatever happened there, he survived, but he doesn't seem to remember what happened. And we couldn't just leave him there to stare at all the bodies," she explained. For a split second, Alex thought about putting her puppy-dog eyes on and begging to ditch him on the side of the galaxy the next time they had a chance, but at the last moment decided against it. "So I take it you know him?" River asked. Alex cringed slightly before coming up with a suitable answer.

"Yeah, I'd seen him around." She mumbled. Ty rolled his eyes.

"You gave me mono.'' He said blamefully, crossing his arms.

"Well, I mean, I suppose there was that...," Alex said quietly, reaching up to twist her ponytail.

"And let's just get this straight, River. She didn't just give _me_ mono, she gave every guy she could get her hands on mono," Ty hissed. River raised an accusing eyebrow.

"Well I apologize for not wanting to _shoot_ myself to regenerate. Mono is a heck of a lot kinder way of death than you would think," Alex exclaimed, finally pulling herself away from her mother and propping a hand on her hip. "At least I kept my virginity in the process!" River looked over to where the Doctor stood. The man stood there, his fingers in his ears, singing very loud and out-of-tune to himself. River shook her head. It was clear he had a lot to learn about teenagers, and at the rate he was going, it wasn't going to be easily taught. She watched the two teenagers bicker back and forth and walked over to the Doctor's side.

"Welcome to parenthood," she said, grinning.


	4. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"Wow." Alex breathed quietly, floating around the TARDIS in a trance-like state. She examined everything closely, touching things carefully as if she couldn't believe they were tangible. The Doctor turned to look a her as he started flipping controls on the main panel. The group had returned to the TARDIS after almost a half-hour of catching up on the cold street. It was time well spent, even though 90% of it was a yelling fight between Ty and Alex, both of which refused to be even the slightest bit kind towards each other.

"What are you wowing about?" The Doctor asked off-handedly, looking back down at the buttons and switches. "You grew up in here. You of all people should be used to it by now." Alex abruptly snapped her attention back to her father, stopping short.

"And _that_ is where _you_ are wrong. I wasn't even six when I left here. I don't remember much, and what I do remember is extremely vague," Alex explained softly, staring down at her feet. Being in the TARDIS seemed to have triggered something in her. Memories she didn't remember making were flooding into her head, and it was like she'd just experienced them minutes before. Nothing like what she considered the 'real' memories. She approached the control panel, stepping up onto the platform it was perched on. It was just her and the Doctor- River and Ty had both cleverly disappeared somewhere in the TARDIS. Ty had been complaining about his hunger and had set off looking for the kitchen. Similarly, River had left mumbling incoherently about locating something. Alex knew she wasn't really looking for much anything at all, but had left the Doctor and his daughter alone on purpose. She didn't mind, though. There really was a lot to catch up on anyway. She wandered up to the control panel, staring at her feet. There was a moment of pure silence- even the TARDIS made no sounds. The Doctor looked up at her. Alex finally looked up herself, meeting his eyes.

"How long has it been for you, Alex?" he asked slowly, carefully, a hunch beginning to form. The girl remained silent before finally speaking.

"Ten years. It's been ten years for me," she whispered reluctantly. She still avoided eye contact, her eyes locked on the top of her sneakers. Her hair hung loosely around her face like a curtain, shielding her features from the Doctor. He knew she'd _aged_ ten years, but time travel was complicated sometimes. A person could age years and years and not have waited more than ten minutes. Of course, the opposite was viable as well- barely aged more than a month and have waited a lifetime. He'd hoped the former was true for his daughter, but apparently things had turned out differently. He sighed heavily, staring up. He'd certainly win father-of-the-year for this stunt. It hadn't been nearly that long for him and his wife, but it wasn't anything he could help.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"But don't worry about me," Alex said swiftly at the same time. "For some reason, it doesn't seem to have actually been that long," her voice wavered at the end, trailing off as if she'd remembered something important. She was a good liar.

"There's no use brooding over time already passed!" she exclaimed, suddenly returning to her usual self. "Where are we going?" The Doctor stared at his hands, wandering through his thoughts.

"I'm not particularly sure where we should be headed. But, Alex, there's a lot we need to know. What happened at the school?" he asked. Alex stopped reacting properly again, stuttering.

"Well, um.. I'm not entirely sure?" she guessed, contemplating which reply would keep her from having to return to the dreaded place. The Doctor sighed and stared at her with a knowledgeable look on his face.

"Wait. Let's back-track. Why exactly were you running through places like schools regenerating every other week anyway? And there is absolutely no use in trying to say you haven't because you've already said it many, many times. It's almost as if you are trying to escape from something. Someone. Or many someones, perhaps?" The Doctor fished around thoughtfully. Alex was rendered wordless. She felt like knocking herself in the head- he was right. She'd already said she'd been doing an 'awful lot of running' and there was no telling what she'd burst out in the heat of her and Ty's argument. There seemed to be no use in denying what he'd suggested.

"So what if I'm running from someone?" she questioned testily. "What does it matter?"

"Where have you been for ten years, Alex?" The Doctor demanded.

"It doesn't matter," Alex retorted. "It's over. I've escaped, I never ever plan on returning and I've long since forced those memories somewhere they can never be retrieved. Nothing before now matters. So I'd appreciate it if you would _drop it._ I don't want to go back to the school. I don't want to talk about it and I don't want to even _think_ about it. So that's that, and let's go do something fun. I'm done with everything before now and that certainly includes Ty. So let's drop him back somewhere and forget about it. Forget about it _all_."

Alex spun on a toe and frustratedly stomped away deeper into the TARDIS, passing Ty, who was munching on a sandwich, on the way. He turned to watch her leave, then returned his line of vision to the Doctor.

"What's up with her?" he asked with a full mouth. The Doctor had returned to the controls and finally flipped the large switch to send them on their way. The TARDIS jerked around for a moment before launching into space. The Doctor turned, resting on the railing, his arms crossed.

"She really gave you mono?" he asked, suddenly seeming awfully concerned about the truth of that statement. Ty glanced around before taking a seat on the railing opposite the Doctor.

"I wasn't kidding. I was down for a month and a half. Forty-Two days to be exact. November 1st to December 12th," he finally said, finishing his sandwich.

The Doctor shook his head and hopped down, beginning to pace back and forth in front of the panels. This had really all come too fast for him- this whole parent thing. He'd at least figured that he'd have a few years before he had to deal with teenage girl things. Boys. He shuddered at the thought and finally stopped moving.

"What were you _doing_ with her that would involve the transfer of mono anyway?" he hissed, approaching the boy. Ty stammered for a moment, trying to locate the correct statement to keep the Doctor from murdering him.

"Spin-the-bottle?" he tested. The Doctor leaned over until his face was merely an inch from Ty's.

"Let's just get this through your head, little boy," The Doctor furiously stated. "This is a TARDIS. More specifically _My _TARDIS. I can see any and everything in this whole entire place that I want to. You lay a _fingertip_ on my daughter and I will know. Don't even try and get away with it. And in the event you don't listen to this warning, I will make sure you get thrown into the next black hole we pass and you will die a painful and miserable death. And I will _not _feel sorry for you. Are we clear?"

Ty nodded once, his eyes huge, a look of pure terror on his face.

"Good." The Doctor said. "Now, get out of my sight before I go ahead and kick you out anyway." Ty hit the ground running, racing back to wherever he had come from. The Doctor watched him go, smiling slightly to himself, chuckling. He really had been quite angry, but scaring the kid had been a good bit of fun. _Nice one Doctor. You've still got it!_ He thought. He shook his head and began to mess with the TARDIS again. Now it was time to figure out how to get Alex to have a discussion with him without stomping away angrily.

* * *

River sat in her and the Doctor's bedroom, reading one of many books she'd found in the TARDIS' library. It was nice and quiet in here- the room was one of the most secluded places in the machine and it also required great purpose to locate. She flipped the page, muttering the words out loud to herself. She was locked into the story-line, a romance between the unlikeliest. She liked those sorts of stories- they tended to remind her of her relationship with the Doctor. She often got lost in her thoughts and memories thinking about it. She continued reading until she began to hear other noises mixed in with her's. It was peculiar. She stopped reading and walked to the door, pressing her ear up to it, listening. She could hear what sounded like one end of a telephone conversation.

"What am I supposed to do, Jess? No I can't run away. What a silly idea. Well yes I want to be around them. I love them, they're my parents. I just don't want to go back. I'm scared. What if they find me? You don't think they will? Okay. Okay. _Alright_ Jess. I'll stop worrying. I'll try to see you soon. Love you. Kay, bye." River listened.

"Alex," she sighed. It seemed as if something had gone wrong upstairs. The girl sounded like she was keeping back tears, or maybe recovering from them. River remained behind the closed door. Alex sniffed and sighed shakily. River slowly opened the door, sticking her head out. Alex jumped.

"Alex?" she asked softly, looking at her daughter. The girl stood there, looking at her feet.

"I'm sorry mum, I didn't know you were down here. I'll go somewhere else," she mumbled starting off somewhere.

"Nope, nope, you aren't going anywhere. Something's wrong," River said, offering her hand to the girl. Alex sighed and followed River back to the room.


End file.
